Search form

Search form

A study in PLOS Medicine found the shingles vaccine is 48% effective in Medicare patients, leading to lower zoster rates. The vaccine also was 59% effective in reducing post-herpetic neuralgia, which occurs 90 days or more after zoster.

Related Summaries

Pain patients who got relief from pregabalin, or Lyrica, were likely to respond within an average of three to four weeks, according to research in the Journal of Pain Research. The analysis included data from five studies of patients with post-herpetic neuralgia, diabetic peripheral neuropathy, fibromyalgia and spinal cord injuries.

Novartis is buying the U.S.-Australian company Spinifex for $200 million, with additional payments linked to designated milestones. The acquisition will allow the Swiss drugmaker to continue clinical trials of the neuropathic pain medication EMA401, which had positive results in patients with post-herpetic neuralgia in mid-stage trials.

A study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases found the shingles vaccine can lessen complications in people who develop the disease, despite having already been vaccinated. Researchers say vaccinated patients older than 60 years old who still develop shingles have less risk of post-herpetic neuralgia, or long-term pain, compared with shingles patients who were unvaccinated. Only 6% and 4% of vaccinated men and women, respectively, had long-term pain due to shingles while 5.8% and 10% of unvaccinated men and women, respectively, developed the same condition.

An analysis of data from more than 700,000 Medicaid beneficiaries found that the shingles vaccine is effective at reducing the risk of shingles and post-herpetic neuralgia, but only 4% in the study group received it. The vaccine reduced the rate of shingles by 48% and post-herpetic neuralgia by 59% overall. The study appeared in the journal PLoS Medicine.

A concentrated dose of a vaccine consisting of the same virus as Merck's childhood chicken pox vaccine can reduce the risk of developing shingles by half in adults, said a study in today's New England Journal of Medicine. The vaccine also reduced pain associated with shingles and lowered by 67% the nerve pain, or postherpetic neuralgia, which is a complication of shingles. FDA approval could result in the vaccine being included in the regimen of shots recommended for the elderly.